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Nearly a year since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, efforts to rebuild the Gaza border
communities destroyed remain underway, with experts estimating that reconstruction
could take at least half a decade. A recently signed $50 million joint venture of the
Jewish National Fund-USA and Keren Kayemet Le’Israel-Jewish National Fund will aid
in rehabilitation on a “project-by-project basis” of the southern Israel communities
devastated by Hamas’ attacks, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen.
Looking for more: Sol Lizerbram, president of JNF-USA, called for additional
support for the effort. “We need Zionist organizations everywhere to coordinate efforts
to address these unprecedented challenges,” Lizerbram said in a statement on
Wednesday. According to JNF-USA, the money will be used to identify projects that
both groups can philanthropically invest in and is considered more of a joint venture
rather than a fund.

Time for rapprochement: The collaboration also indicates a deepening cooperative
relationship between the two organizations after almost two decades of separation. The
groups have maintained strained ties with one another over the years over a variety of
disputes, some ideological and some over management practices. Ifat Ovadia-Luski,
KKL-JNF chairwoman, told eJP that she made repairing the rift one of her top priorities
when stepping into the role in 2022. “This situation could not continue and we must
work together,” she said, recalling that multiple in-person meetings, both in Jerusalem
and New York, took place before the groups agreed to join forces.